Matt Cardle's victory in The X Factor and the semi-final of Strictly Come Dancing combined to produce the largest Sunday night TV audience for 20 years.

An average of 17.2 million people watched the 27-year-old former painter and decorator's win, while a total of 28 million people turned on their television between 6pm and 10.30pm, more than on any Sunday night since 1992, according to figures from the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board.

At 8.45pm The X Factor's audience peaked at 18.8 million, nearly 60% of the total viewing audience.

The X Factor also revealed today that 15,488,019 votes were cast during the series. Cardle won every round of voting apart from the first, in which he was beaten into second place by Mary Byrne.

But no battle would be complete without some serious contenders and Cardle faces healthy opposition from the anti-X Factor faction, including a bid to seeJohn Cage's 4'33" get to No 1.

There is also a challenge from outraged Billy Clyro fans who want to see the original single take the top spot. Almost 25,000 have signed up to a Facebook campaign urging people to buy the band's version, rather than Cardle's.

An aggrieved fan started the page in support of the Scottish rockers: "Why should Cardle get a Christmas No 1 after rocking up to an X Factor audition? Biffy Clyro have been working hard as a band for many years now and, in my opinion, haven't yet achieved the recognition they deserve. So rather than this being about 'sticking it to Cowell' or whatever, this is about recognising the original artist for their creativity."

Others were more forceful in their approbation. Fellow fan Matthew Davies said he hoped the band would at least make a pile of cash from the royalties.

"Five albums and 15 years of touring, rocking EVERYWHERE and it takes some schmuck on a karaoke contest for people to start talking about them," he wrote.

Cardle himself knows the danger of a well-organised, vitriolic anti-X Factor campaign. Last year's winner, Joe McElderry, was beaten to the top spot by Californian rock band Rage Against the Machine, whose sweary Killing In The Name was first released in 1992. In the week before the Christmas No 1 deadline it sold about 500,000 copies, about 50,000 more than The Climb, McElderry's tear-jerker.

It is of little surprise, then, that the current champion is taking a humble line. Doing the mandatory morning after interview on This Morning he said: "You've just got to take everything in your stride. There are people out there that are going to want to do that, so just let them, if that's what they want to do."